2009 Gordon Research Conference on Cartilage Biology and Pathology

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一个非常成功的系列戈登研究会议的第四次会议的支持请求，该会议将于2009年6月7日至12日在瑞士的Les Diablerets举行。在前几次会议成功的基础上，会议汇集了优秀的高级和初级科学家以及高级研究生和博士后研究员，进行为期4.5天的正式演讲，非正式讨论和互动以及海报展示。参与者对软骨生物学和病理学感兴趣，但代表了广泛的学科，包括发育和进化生物学，细胞外基质生物化学，细胞和分子生物学，机械生物学和组织工程，病理学，遗传学和骨科。腕关节是一种非凡的组织，具有几种重要功能。在骨骼发育过程中，未来骨骼的模型主要由软骨组成。通过一系列复杂的细胞过程，这些软骨模型被骨髓和骨组织取代，除了朝向软骨区域保持为生长板软骨的末端，以及在最末端，软骨层用作光滑的减震结构，以允许骨骼在关节中相遇的地方自由移动。最后，在脊柱中的椎体之间的专门软骨的减震和弹性层允许身体的弯曲和扭转。长骨中的生长板软骨和颅底骨之间的软骨薄层对于儿童和青少年时期长骨长度的增加以及容纳大脑生长所需的颅骨扩大至关重要。当软骨失败时，后果可能是严重的，从出生时的死亡到骨骼生长减少或老年人的退行性关节和脊柱疾病。几十年来对软骨及其疾病的研究已经导致了对疾病的诱发因素和细胞机制的鉴定。在理解调控软骨形成细胞形成、生长板软骨功能和关节形成的基因和分子机制方面也取得了巨大进展。与此同时，干细胞生物学和组织工程学的进步为退化的软骨有朝一日可以修复或刺激再生打开了大门。然而，在开发以知识为基础的治疗策略以预防或减缓骨关节炎和脊柱退行性变化的进展，治疗影响生长板功能的突变的后果或修复/再生有缺陷的软骨之前，还有很多事情需要了解。会议的目的是促进跨学科研究，以推动实现这些目标的进展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a request for support of the fourth meeting in a highly successful series of Gordon Research Conferences on Cartilage Biology and Pathology, to be held at the Les Diablerets, Switzerland, June 7-12, 2009. Building on the success of the previous conferences, the meeting brings together outstanding senior and junior scientists and advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for a 4.5 -day program of formal presentations, informal discussions and interactions and poster presentations. The participants share an interest in cartilage biology and pathology but represent a broad range of disciplines, including developmental and evolutionary biology, extracellular matrix biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, mechanobiology and tissue engineering, pathology, genetics, and orthopedics. Cartilage is a remarkable tissue that has several crucial functions. During skeletal development, models of the future bones are mostly made of cartilage. By a complex series of cellular processes these cartilage models are replaced by bone marrow and bone tissue, except towards the ends where a region of cartilage remains as growth plate cartilage, and at the very end, where a layer of cartilage serves as a slippery, shock-absorbing structure to allow bones to freely move where they meet in joints. Finally, a shock-absorbing and elastic layer of specialized cartilage between the vertebral bodies in the spine allows bending and twisting of the body. Growth plate cartilage in long bones and thin layers of cartilage between bones at the base of the skull are crucial for the increase in length of long bones during childhood and adolescence and the enlargement of the skull needed to accommodate the growing brain. When cartilage fails the consequences can be severe, ranging from death around birth to reduced growth of the skeleton or degenerative joint and spine disease in the aging adult. Several decades of research into cartilage and its disorders have led to identification of predisposing factors and cellular mechanisms of disease. Great strides have also been made in the understanding of genes and molecular mechanisms that regulate formation of cartilage-forming cells, the functions of growth plate cartilage and the formation of joints. At the same time advances in stem cell biology and tissue engineering is opening the door to the possibility that degenerating cartilage can one day be repaired or stimulated to regenerate. However, much remains to be understood before knowledge-based therapeutic strategies can be developed to prevent or slow down progression of osteoarthritis and degenerative changes in the spine, treat the consequences of mutations that affect growth plate function or repair/regenerate defective cartilage. The aim of the meeting is to stimulate interdisciplinary research to advance progression towards these goals.